News from New York and parts beyond

NYCC coverage is pouring in from all over. If you’re thinking of going, check out Blog@Newsarama’s suggestions for manga and anime fans and Deb Aoki’s more exhaustive listing of Friday’s highlights.

The MangaCast team checks out this week’s new manga, and the Manga Villagers chime in with their picks as well.

Two interesting columns are up at Manga Life: Barb Lien-Cooper writes about manly manga, and hubby Park Cooper talks to some real teenage girls about what they like about manga.

Tokyopop is partnering with Spacedog Entertainment to “create original intellectual property for multi-media distribution including publishing, film, television, digital, merchandising, and game development,” starting with a manga called eV. Also: They have extended their contract with Blizzard Entertainment for three more years.

John Jakala finds a scanlation of an earlier work by the creators of Dragon Head.

At Shuchaku East, Chloe F. is stumped by a mystery manga listed on Amazon.com, Hitohira. Surely someone out there has heard of this? UPDATE: Erica comes through! I knew I could count on my readers.

The Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin profiles Valerie Zehl, who won the Black Sun, Silver Moon fanart contest last year. It’s an interesting article about juggling art and real life, even if the write does mix up manga and anime a bit.

News from Japan: Shueisha is launching Monthly Young Jump, a special issue of Weekly Young Jump. In serialization news, the mystery manga Spiral Alive is ending and the creators of Steel Angel Kurumi are starting a new title. And Ichijinsa Bunko has a new line of girls’ light novels set to debut; LightNovel.org lists the titles. (Via ComiPress.) Brian Henderson reviews vol. 1 of Project D.O.A. at Manga Xanadu.

Reviews: David Welsh devotes this week’s Flipped column to a series I really enjoy, ES: Eternal Sabbath. At About Heroes, EvilOmar has short takes on a variety of manga. Anne Cain reviews I’m Not Your Stepping Stone for Manga Jouhou. At About.com, Deb Aoki reviews vol. 1 of Yozakura Quartet, which a lot of folks are comparing to superhero comics. Over at Anime on DVD, Briana Lawrence reviews Thirsty for Love, Greg Hackmann looks at vol. 12 of Golgo 13, and Sakura Eries checks out vol. 1 of Bride of the Water God and vol. 2 of With the Light. At Manga Life, Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane reviews vols. 2 and 3 of Skip Beat, Shannon Fay checks out vol. 21 of Bleach, and David Rasmussen reads vol. 8 of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Tiamat’s Disciple writes about vol. 1 of Kekkaishi, vol. 1 of Y Square, and vols. 1 and 2 of Hayate the Combat Butler. Erica Friedman reviews a Japanese title, vol. 4 of Karakuri Odette, at Okazu. Danielle Leigh recommends vols. 1 and 2 of With the Light in her Manga Before Flowers column at Comic Book Resources. Julie reviews Tough Love Baby and Leader’s High at the Manga Maniac Cafe. Sakura Kiss reads Kiss All the Boys at The Yaoi Review. Connie updates with reviews of vol. 9 of Nana, All Nippon Air Lines, and vol. 6 of Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service at Slightly Biased Manga. Marina Neira checks out vol. 17 of One Piece. At Prospero’s Manga, Ferdinand likes vol. 1 of Psycho Busters, the novel, less than he liked the manga, and he posts an update on vol. 8 of ES: Eternal Sabbath. Tangognat picked up vol. 1 of Teru Teru x Shonen on a whim and she wishes she hadn’t. At Active Anime, Scott Campbell reviews vol. 4 of Pretty Face, Davey C. Jones checks out vol. 6 of Gacha Gacha: The Next Revolution, and Rachel Bentham comments on vol. 8 of Inubaka: Crazy for Dogs. Forbes.com praises Johnny Bunko for its common sense; I wish I could say the same about their webmaster, who delays the review with an annoying interstitial ad. Animanga Nation reviews Death Note: How to Read 13.